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hate microsoft? like working for free? we’ve got a job for you.

Diego posts some breaking news from Microsoft that is in keeping with my “pick on Microsoft day” theme. (I think I might make this an annual event).

REDMOND, WA — Microsoft Corp. unveiled a new strategy today designed to off-load development of its products to the very same people that hate them. Under the program, self-described Microsoft haters that subscribe to Microsoft’s MSDN program at the low cost of between 500 and 2000 USD, will be able to download the latest build of Longhorn, Microsoft’s next-generation operating system. After spending untold hours setting the system up, those users will be able to write up and even publish their ideas and criticism on their own weblog, or public forums or talk about them with friends and family. More significantly, Microsoft vowed to actually pay attention to some of the feedback. Robert Scoble described this unprecedented move of allowing people to talk about things as follows: “Why is this a massive change? Everytime we’ve released a version of Windows before we kept it secret. We made anyone who saw it sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Even many of those of you who signed NDAs weren’t really given full access to the development teams and often if you were, it was too late to really help improve the product.” Microsoft noted that they hoped that these new hate-filled testers would prove more effective than the estimated 50,000 internal and 20,000 external testers that had given feedback on previous versions, going as far back as Windows 2000. “Honestly,” said one Microsoft executive who wished to remain anonymous, “All those guys must have been asleep at the wheel. I mean, look at the stuff we’ve released in the last three, four years. Nothing works. We’ve had so many viruses and worms that we’ve got calls from WHO offering to send out a team to help.”

Hehe – my first smile for the day (having a tax return that won’t balance, trains cancelled, transferring domains fail, and doing business card artwork that just doesn’t seem to want to do what I want can do that to me.)